Toby kicked his feet out in front of him and straightened his socks, making sure that the pelerine pattern was straight and the tops were level. He completed his homework than changed out of his uniform and hung his skirt up once and for all. Later that evening his mother tells him that she’d had a look at the school website and told him that the new school shorts aren’t anything like she’d imagined. “I thought they’d be cargo style shorts, but they’re really quite short.” she said.

“How short?” he asked.

“An inside leg between one and three inches, which means they’ll be about…” she placed her hand high on her lap, “…that short.”

“No way!” he gasped. “That’s shorter than my skirt!” he added. “Even with knee socks they’d be freezing in the middle of February.” he presumed.

“Not if you wear tights.” his mother informed him.

“I can’t wear tights!”

“You can. It says so.” she replied.

“I’m not wearing tights.” he stated.

“You won’t be saying that in November.” she knowingly claimed.

Toby found himself in denial. Maybe his mother was winding him up. Maybe she liked the idea of sending him to school in short girlie shorts when a longer, more boyish style is permitted. His mum was always complimenting his legs and saying how nice it is to see them for once. It was her who pestered him into wearing a skirt in the first place, and it was she who suggested he remove his leg hair. She even bought him some girl’s knee socks because they looked better with his skirt than boy’s socks did and Toby just let himself get pestered into wearing them. Maybe it’s just his mother’s ploy to buy him some short girlie shorts?

He checked the school website himself and his heart quickly sank. It states quite clearly that the black tailored shorts must have an inside leg between one and three inches, and that either white ankle or knee socks, or plain black tights must be worn. “Mum… what’s denier mean?” he asked as he sulked at the laptop.

“It’s the thickness of nylon.” she replied as she approached. “Checking the new uniform rules?” she asked, noticing the school’s webpage on the screen.

“Yeah.” he sighed. “We have to wear white socks too.”

“White socks are nice.” she replied.

“I’m gonna feel like such a ninny wearing black shorts and white knee socks.”

“Well you can still wear a skirt if you prefer… you’ve been wearing that with knee socks for weeks.”

“Only because it was a protest.” he whined. “I’m not gonna wear this again if I can help it!” he sneered, grabbing at its pleats and letting them drop.

The next day at school, not a single boy turned up wearing a skirt. Those who’d been most active and vocal in the protest toyed with how they might protest against the new ruling. They could defy it and continue wearing long trousers next term, risking detention, suspension or expulsion. They could contact the press and argue that the new rule isn’t just punishing those who protested, but also those who didn’t. “We need to get some girls involved.” one suggested. “They’ve lost their right to long pants too.”

“Well whatever we do, it’s got to comply with school rules… that was the beauty of our shorts protest… we complied and there was nothing they could do.” Toby replied.

“I think I’d rather wear a skirt.” one of the boys reluctantly suggested. “Those new shorts look too short for comfort.” he claimed.

The other’s agreed that the shorts look far too short, but aren’t quite so keen on continuing to wear their skirts. “I guess we just have to swallow it.” one of the ringleaders suggested. “We still won, we just got more than we bargained for.” he claimed.

“We got made fools of, more like.” Toby said. “I should never have let you lot talk me into this.”

“You were just as much a part of it as us!” they claimed. “You wore a skirt on the very first day. You wrote the campaign leaflets. You were handing them out too…”

“I know.” Toby grumbled. “I just got swept along with the protest. It was exciting… for a few days anyway.” Toby confessed. “Then it just seemed to snowball.”

The others muttered their vague agreements. They’d all got swept along with exercising their right to protest. They couldn’t resist the sense of rebellion and camaraderie that came with it. They’d geared themselves up, got themselves organised and weren’t going to back down until their goal had been achieved. They had access to the photocopiers, the print room, they made leaflets and posters, wrote articles for the school magazine, campaigned throughout their break times to get more kids on board… all in the name of the cause.

Throughout the last week of term, all those who’d been most active in the protest were frequently berated by those who weren’t involved and even some who were. They were criticised for not being clear enough in their campaign. They should have proposed a particular style and stated that shorts should be optional. They should have argued for a referendum, giving the pupils the chance to vote between the existing rules and the new ones… but no… they demanded the right to wear short pants to school and that’s exactly what they’ve got